CULTURE AND CURING IN ARKANSAS. 27 



showers should happily come after the hills or ridges are prepared the plants are set out rapidly, bnt in seasons of 

 drought a gill of water is applied to each hill in new land before planting. On old lands a pint of water is required 

 for each hill to insure the life of the plant. As soon as the plants are firmly established, a common hoe is used to 

 loosen the soil around them, which gives them an early start. The field is then plowed as often as may be necessary 

 to keep down the weeds and to keep the land in good tilth. 



From ten to sixteen leaves are left to each plant in topping, and the suckers are removed as fast as they attain 

 a length of 2 or 3 inches. From four to seven weeks intervene between topping and harvesting, the period for the 

 latter being the last of August, and continuing until the last of September, and even into October, when the 

 transplanting has been delayed, or when unfavorable weather has checked the growth of the plants. In cutting 

 a common knife is used. The stalk is sometimes split, but oftener speared on a smooth stick 4 feet long, from six to 

 twelve plants to the stick. The time preferred for cutting is late in the afternoon, when the tobacco will not " sunburn". 

 It is hung and hauled in in the morning while cool, in which condition it does not bruise so easily by handling. If 

 possible, tobacco is never harvested immediately after a rain. When rains are continued, it is difficult to cure the 

 crop to bright colors, nor does it ever recover its oily smoothness of leaf, but becomes harsh and impaired in 



quality. 



CURING OF TOBACCO. 



Two-thirds of the whole product of Burley tobacco is air-cured in open barns, one-sixth by charcoal, and one- 

 sixth by flues and open wood fires, and it is usually allowed to remain on scaffolds, constructed in the fields, for 

 three or four days before being put into these barns. Flue and charcoal curing are elaborated in the chapter OB 

 North Carolina, and are the modes used for making yellow wrapper. 



After being well cured, the tobacco is carefully assorted as to length, color, richness, and defective leaves, 

 tied mostly in hands of eight leaves, hung up on sticks for "ordering ", or temporarily bulked. 



There are three or four grades made in every crop, consisting of wrappers, bright and half bright fillers, and 

 lugs or smokers, for bright tobacco; leaf, lugs, and trash, for the Burley sorts; and good leaf, low leaf, and lugs, for 

 the heavy shipping tobacco. Unusual pains are taken, especially in Benton county, in properly assorting the crop. 

 A really excellent article of tobacco, slovenly or unskillfully handled, will bring a very small price. 



The insects and the diseases which attack the plant are the same as in other tobacco-growing sections. The 

 bud-worm or wire- worm is probably more troublesome than any other insect. 



TOBACCO-HOUSES. 



These houses are constructed of logs, and are from 16 to 20 feet square, and from four to six tiers in height. Many 

 of these log b'arns are furnished with flues, at a cost of from $5 to $30. Larger frame barns, 50 feet or more in 

 length and 40 feet in breadth, are also built for air-curing, but these large structures are not deemed so efficient in 

 the curing of yellow tobacco, it being much more difficult to secure a uniformity of temperature in them. The smaller 

 barns will hold about 400 sticks of tobacco, equivalent, on an average, to the product of one acre; the larger barns, 

 for air-curing, have often a capacity for housing 6,000 sticks, the product of from 14 to 16 acres. For flue or charcoal 

 curing the barns are made very tight, but are open for air-curing. The cost of these structures ranges from $50 

 to $400. About 1 in 800 is annually destroyed by fire. 



MARKETING OF TOBACCO. 



By far the largest proportion of the crop is sold loose to local dealers, agents, or manufacturers, and is 

 delivered to them in good prizing or bulking order; that is to say, when the tobacco is soft enough to handle 

 without breaking the leaf but with the stem dry enough to crack two-thirds of its length when bent. Dealers 

 pack in hogsheads 44 inches in the head and 58 inches in height, which cost $2 each. The number of pounds of 

 each type or grade of tobacco packed in a hogshead of this size is: of fine wrappers, 900 pounds; of manufacturing 

 leaf, fine, 1,000 pounds; common manufacturing leaf, 1,200 to 1,500 pounds; lugs, from 1,500 to 2,000 pounds. 



The time for delivering to dealers is during the fall and winter months, and even up to April, when the 

 weather has been unsuitable for handling tobacco previously. When kept late, it is frequently injured in the open 

 barns by mold, which is always present to some extent in warm, wet weather. Dealers prefer to prize in March, 

 April, and May, before the period arrives for the tobacco to go into the sweating process. It generally reaches the 

 market in Saint Louis in May, June, and July. 



PRICES OF TOBACCO. 



The average price received by the farmers for tobacco tied in bundles and not prized Is 4J cents per pound. 

 Bright and half-bright wrappers bring an average of 12 cents, ranging from 8 to 40 cents, a very small 

 proportion bringing the higher figures. For White Burley the average price is 6 to 8 cents; manufacturing, 5 

 cents; common, 3J cents; lugs averaging 1J cent. The general average is reached by calculating the proportion 

 of the crop of the district as one-twentieth bright wrappers, one-tenth White Burley, one-fourth manufacturing, 

 two-fifths common, and one-fifth lugs. It costs 2 cents per pound to handle and pay all expenses on the tobacco 

 after it leaves the planter's hands until it is sold in Saint Louis. There are no stemmeries in the district, but there 

 are a few establishments where plug is made. 



